Looking Back: 2008

It doesn't seem like 5 minutes ago that we were welcoming in the new year for 2008. However, now it is New Years' Eve and soon 2009 will be here. In this post, I'm going to be looking back at the key events in the world of Mario during the past 12 months.

One Mario game to be released in 2008 was Super Smash Bros. Brawl. It was the third installment in the Nintendo fighting series Super Smash Bros. The game was initially announced before E3 2005. However it took 3 years for it to arrive on European shores on 27th June 2008. The game, as always, delivered fun filled action with not just Mario characters but the whole of Nintendo's different franchises.

Mario Kart Wii was released on the 11th April 2008 on the Nintendo Wii. The long running Kart series turned a new corner as Motorbikes accelerated onto the scene. As well as this, players experienced the new Wii Wheel to drive their karts. The game was and still is a huge hit. In Japan and North America the game sold more than 1 million copies in one month alone.

Dr Mario returned in 2008 aswell. Germ Buster was the latest installment of the Dr. Mario series and was released through the WiiWare service. Players must use pills to destroy the viruses. The game also made use of the online service.

The Mario sport series saw a new title aswell in 2008. Mario Super Sluggers became the second baseball game for Mario. The game is pretty simple really and follows the normal format of a game of baseball. However the game is yet to be released in Europe and Australia, and no date has yet been given.

Other games released this year include Captain Rainbow which features some Mario characters such as Birdo. Super Mario RPG and Yoshi's Cookie were both re-released on the Virtual Console respectively.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl also picked up the Official Nintendo Magazine Game Of Year award at the Golden Joystick Awards 2008.

2008 didn't hold as many Mario game releases as previous years, however, Mario Kart Wii and Brawl are both big games and I think this compensates for that. Not many announcements have been made for 2009 other than Mario & Luigi RPG 3 which has been slated for Japan in February.

Happy New Year, all the best for 2009 from Mario Resource..